Oceanside presents El Corazon plans

OCEANSIDE —— A plan for a 465-acre, city-owned site in central
Oceanside that calls for 363 acres to be used for parkland and open
space was presented Wednesday at City Hall by a city committee and
city-hired consultants.

The massive property, dubbed "El Corazon" —— which means "the
heart" in Spanish —— is in central Oceanside, bound by Rancho del
Oro Drive, Oceanside Boulevard, El Camino Real and Mesa Drive. More
than 100 people turned out to hear the plans for the former sand
mine, which was given to Oceanside in 1994.

In addition to land set aside for parks and open space, El
Corazon would include 47 acres for "public land uses," such as a
senior center, recreation center and a yard waste facility,
according to the plan, which was prepared by the 14-member El
Corazon Planning Committee and San Luis Obispo consultant RRM
Design Group.

The plan also calls for 55 acres to be used for two hotels and
commercial development at the site's eastern end.

Committee Chairman Hugh La Bounty said he expects the City
Council to vote on the plan in June or July, though officials said
the project wouldn't be finished for nearly two decades. La Bounty
emphasized that any binding decisions for El Corazon would be made
by the council, and that the committee's plan would likely see big
changes before El Corazon is complete.

"It is a road map," La Bounty said of the plan. "It gives us a
sense of direction."

La Bounty said after the meeting that while his committee hasn't
crunched any numbers, he estimates the cost of developing El
Corazon to be about $100 million.

A ballot initiative that would have reserved most of the land
for a public park failed by just 81 votes in November 2002. The
next summer, the City Council created the El Corazon committee to
come up with a plan for the site.

The committee's plan calls for more than three-fourths of El
Corazon to be earmarked for parks, open space and natural habitat.
The site would include a swim center, basketball courts, a skate
park, horseshoe parts, a fitness course, nine mails of trails and
paths, gardens, playgrounds, a dog park, bandstand, picnic areas,
20 soccer and football fields, and seven baseball and softball
fields.

That potential abundance of recreational facilities had many
residents grinning after Wednesday's presentation.

Resident Mitzi Koch said she was excited about an Olympic-sized
pool, saying she would use that facility for her thrice-weekly
half-mile swim. Koch said she now uses a small community pool in
which a half-mile is 80 lengths, compared to 32 in an Olympic-size
pool.

"(The pool) really piqued my interest," Koch said.

Michelle Richter, registrar for Soccer Club of Oceanside, said
El Corazon would be a boon to her youth soccer league. Because of a
shortage of parkland, her youth league is relegated to playing on
school fields that have to be reserved months in advance, she
said.

The only problem with the El Corazon plan, said two of Richter's
2,200 players —— Dominique Zimmerman, 11, and Kelsey Brinkman, 12
—— is that it won't be done until they're adults.

"Your children will be able to play," Richter reminded them.

That prediction might not be far off. According to a rough
timeline presented by RRM principal Jeff Ferber, much of El Corazon
wouldn't be complete until 2020.

El Corazon would be developed in phases, Ferber said. That's
because the property, sales and hotel taxes generated by
restaurants, retail shops and two hotels would help pay for the
development of El Corazon's parkland, officials said.

Ferber said the senior center is expected to open in 2008. The
green waste center —— where tree limbs and other discarded
vegetation is chopped, mixed and mulched —— is now located in the
property's center, but would be relocated to its southern border
between 2006 and 2008, Ferber said.

Some commercial development would be completed by 2010, as would
one of the hotels and much of the habitat restoration on El
Corazon's west side, Ferber said.

Many of the sports fields and lots of parkland would be
developed between 2008 and 2013, and a second hotel would be open
by 2015, he said. A cultural and community center would open by
2015, and a recreation center would be done between 2010 and 2017,
Ferber said.

The final commercial development and park expansion would be
completed by 2020, Ferber said.

For information on the project, visit
www.elcorazon.ci.oceanside.ca.us.